Snow - Random Post

Anyone who knows me, knows I love snow... No, not like it, LOVE IT!

There's no one reason why, it's a whole raft of things:

FUN: I find it great fun to do anything in the snow: walk, skid about, kick it, throw snowballs at people or my mum and dads dog.

COLD: I have no idea why but I hate being hot. At the moment it's about 3-4 degrees in Bromley and when I get in from work i'm happy to just sit about in shorts (t-shirt optional) whilst V is snuggled in ten layers of clothing. So snow is perfect for me, I may wee a coat when it snows but only as melts snow gets wet, not because I'm cold.

PRETTY: snow makes everything look pretty. A blanket of white over the most ugly building/ car/ whatever in to a dramatic scene.

KIDS: children, generally, love snow too and I think nothing is better than watching kids play in the snow and have good old fashioned fun.

SLEDGING: great fun! I love throwing myself down a massive hill on a bit of plastic. My old office had a long, downhill drive and I always took my sledge along for lunchtime games.

All in all, I love everything about it and am doing a now dance every hour on the hour in the hope that Bromley gets a nice coating before the warm weather returns.

Hopefully we'll get some and I can show LC what it's all about. Surely 6 months is old enough to make your first snowman???

I you get snow, enjoy it an pray that I see some too :-)

Silent Sunday

January Update!

I really must try to blog more often. I just struggle to find the time to do it. When I'm home I want to spend all my time with V and LC and when I'm at work, well, I'm at work!

So, Christmas and new year have been and gone. We had a lovely time and did our best to keep LC entertained with her new toys. Obviously she had no idea what time of year it was but I'd like to think she had fun.

We've moved on to weaning now; LC is 5 months old but watches V like a hawk when she eats porridge and is putting everything she can in her mouth.

We made a bulk batch of blended produce on Friday night (finished early Saturday morning as it took a while to figure out consistency of the purees).We cooked, blended and froze: Carrot, apple, pear, sweet potato and butternut squash.

On Saturday we gave LC her very first try of a puree, choosing the carrot option. Lets just say she prefers her milk to carrot!!! Lucky we bought some extra wide bibs for her as there was more carrot down her front than in her mouth - mummy and daddy need to practice their aim!

Sunday we decided to gve her a taste of baby rice. This went down much better than the carrot, Iguess as the taste was familiar and she just had to deal with the texture difference. Good work LC, you did very well :)

Yesterday, V gave LC some banana porridge, again made with her normal milk. She loved this but not as much as V!!!

Today, I'm told, LC will be trying out a mashed baby weetabix. As it's with her own milk again we're hoping for good things but I'll let you know!

These steps in her life make me sad to be at work while she is developing. I'd love to sit and watch her all day, every day. She is moving on so quickly - we even have the very first signs of crawling now - and I don't want to miss any of it.

Things are progressing well with my DaddyNatal training. I only have one more 'face to face' course to go and some coursework before my portfolio can be submitted for full FEDANT recognition.

I really can't wait to get going now. I attended one of Dean's classes before LC was born so I know the difference that the teaching can make to dads and consequently mums and babies.

It's just baby steps at the moment but I'd love to get DaddyNatal known in and around my area to the level where it is almost the norm for dads to attend it. It would also be amazing if I could take it to a level where I could give up my job and use it as a sole income. Don't get me wrong, money wasn't even a consideration when I chose to train as an antenatal educator, but it would free up my time to watch LC grow and develop rather than sit at my desk and wish I was home.

Anyway, I've blatheredon quite enough for one blog. I'll let you go now but I promise to blog more often from now on.

Have a great day and make the most of the time you spend with your children :)

It's Christmas Time!

Wow, time really does fly!

LC is now four months (and five days) old and Christmas is upon us! Needless to say that the whole family are going to spoil her rotten over Christmas and she has even sneeked in a few early presents too - cheeky thing!

I'm really looking forward to our first Christmas all together; I suppose, in theory, LC was with us last Christmas, just finding her way out of mummy's Fallopian tube, but this year will be the first when she is actually with us and we can enjoy her company!

She has turned in to a real character over these four months and has really made my life complete. Granted she may nag me from time to time - and yes, I do mean nag! - but she also has the cutest little smile I have ever seen. That smile can brighten my whole day, even if I return home from a hard day at work.

On the nagging front, she is quite amusing. Unless she has your undivided attention, she shouts at you - not crying, shouting! She has also learnt to "talk" to us and really tries to immitate the movements of your mouth when you talk back to her. The most amusing part of LC finding her voice is that around 3-4am every morning, she "sings" to herself. It must be to herself as our room is pitch black, unless the cat has found a way of opening the door while we sleep!? Once she has finished her "song" she settles herself back down and we don't see or hear from her again until morning!

We have had, about three weeks ago, some giggles but these haven't been heard since, although they must be just around the corner when she smiles so big her head nearly drops off!

It's been a wonderful four months and five days and Christmas is the perfect end to a wonderful start to family life. 

Merry Christmas to you all - if there is anyone who actually reads this :) - I hope yours is as good as mine will be xx

Phoneless

So, as those of you who follow me on Twitter may have heard, I am phoneless for approx 5 days.

It started with an innocent drop of the phone when coming down the stairs and has ended in me becoming a social outcast. I have so far survived for 1.5hrs without my beloved iPhone and I feel completely distressed by the whole situation.

I use my phone for everything, Twitter, Facebook, emails (work and personal), keeping in touch with V whilst at work and receiving pics of LC to get me through to hometime. I listen to podcasts on my way to work and even use it as a satnav when I hit traffic. What am I going to do for 5 whole days?

I'm going to go in to an O2 store as the team on the phone said they would lend me a phone whilst mine is repaired or replaced. I am already panicking that they'll say they have none in store or that they won't as reported the repair over the phone. I don't know why I think this is what they'll say? Maybe I'm preparing myself for the worst. 

So, my plan is to just be brave, keep in touch with V by email for the time being and take sleeping tablets for four days until the return of my connection to the outside world. 

Have any of you ever been without your phone for any length of time? If so, did you cope better than I currently am?

Why The Competition?

Are we the only parents who are honest about their baby's sleeping patterns?

It seems every week we're looked at sympathetically by someone telling us how their baby slept for eight hours immediately from birth?

Sure, I bet there are babies that do sleep for longer than average, but I doubt that everyone we know with a baby is in that minority.

I also know that LC was was 5 weeks early and a such doesn't currently eat as much as other 'full term' babies of the same age as her.

But, I just don't care!

When we first got LC home she would go for an hour (hour and a half if we were lucky) between feeds as she just couldn't eat any more than her little tummy would take. Yes, it was hard work but we made it through those couple of weeks by working together and doing shifts.

Now she is 12 weeks we've just for up to four hours between feeds. Heaven to us but we're still sympathised with by the superior baby parents.

One person told V that their daughter slept through from 8 weeks only for her father to tell me that they still get up to her once a night - at 4 months old.

So, why lie about it? I get parents are proud of their kids but they are all babies at one point and they all have their good and bad points.

You don't need to lie about your babies development to impress me. You have to have grown up yourself to do that!

Rant over, sorry folks :)

Birth Story from Primary School

So, this post is allegedly from an anonymous primary school teacher following a show and tell class. Obviously I can't comment on whether it's fictional or not but I enjoyed it so will share :)

I've been teaching now for about fifteen years. I have two kids myself, but the best birth story I know is the one I saw in my own second grade classroom a few years back.

When I was a kid, I loved show-and-tell. So I always have a few sessions with my students. It helps them get over shyness and usually, show-and-tell is pretty tame. Kids bring in pet turtles, model airplanes, pictures of fish they catch, stuff like that. And I never, ever place any boundaries or limitations on them.. If they want to lug it in to school and talk about it, they're welcome.

Well, one day this little girl, Erica, a very bright, very outgoing kid, takes her turn and waddles up to the front of the class with a pillow stuffed under her sweater.

She holds up a snapshot of an infant. 'This is Luke, my baby brother, and I'm going to tell you about his birthday.'

'First, Mom and Dad made him as a symbol of their love, and then Dad put a seed in my Mom's stomach, and Luke grew in there. He ate for nine months through an umbrella cord.'

She's standing there with her hands on the pillow, and I'm trying not to laugh and wishing I had my camcorder with me. The kids are watching her in amazement.

'Then, about two Saturdays ago, my Mom starts saying and going, 'Oh, Oh, Oh, Oh!' Erica puts a hand behind her back and groans. 'She walked around the house for, like an hour, 'Oh, oh, oh!' (Now this kid is doing a hysterical duck walk and groaning.)

'My Dad called the middle wife.. She delivers babies, but she doesn't have a sign on the car like the Domino's man. They got my Mom to lie down in bed like this..' (Then Erica lies down with her back against the wall.)

'And then, pop! My Mom had this bag of water she kept in there in case he got thirsty, and it just blew up and spilled all over the bed, like psshhheew!' (This kid has her legs spread with her little hands miming water flowing away. It was too much!)

'Then the middle wife starts saying 'push, push,' and 'breathe, breathe They started counting, but never even got past ten. Then, all of a sudden, out comes my brother. He was covered in yucky stuff that they all said it was from Mom's play-center, (placenta) so there must be a lot of toys inside there. When he got out, the middle wife spanked him for crawling up in there.'

Then Erica stood up, took a big theatrical bow and returned to her seat I'm sure I applauded the loudest.